Their last years
by bubbler135
Summary: Marauders and friends last two years at Hogwarts and hopefully beyond. Friends, family, love, loss, school, etc...
1. Chapter 1

'LILY EVANS, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL SUMMER?' A flash of blonde hair flying through the air was the only indication of where the shouts had come from as Lily prepared herself for the impact of Marlene McKinnon, almost knocking her to the ground right outside Florean Fortescue's.

'I should've known I'd find you here!' grinned Lily once Marlene had stopped spinning them around in her excitement, 'Never far from food, are you?' It was the middle of August, two days after the Hogwarts letters had been sent out and the soon to be 6th year Gryffindors were well overdue for a catch up.

'Hey, I'll have you know this is my first Super Scrumptious Ice Cream Sundae of the Summer!' retorted Marlene holding her head up proudly. Lily just laughed, looking past Marlene into the shop to see where she had been sitting with two dark haired, effortlessly attractive boys who were now finishing off Marlene's almost forgotten Sundae.

'I wasn't finished with that you two!' shouted Marlene, having followed Lily's line of sight. The two boys simply grinned as she snatched her now empty bowl from between them. 'Typical, can't even enjoy an ice cream these days, see what you've left me to deal with all Summer Lily?'

'Aw McKinnon, don't pretend you haven't loved every minute of having us around,' grinned Sirius earning him an eye roll from Marlene, before he looked up at Lily who had followed Marlene over to the table, 'Good Summer Evans?'

'Yes thanks, I've been in France all Summer with my parents, just got home yesterday actually, how about you both?' She directed her question to the two boys at the table who shared a quick glance as they hesitated to answer.

'Yeah, its been fine, nothing special,' replied James after a second, running a hand through his hair and fiddling with the spoon in front of him.

'Yeah, yeah summers great and all, but we have shopping to do, gossip to catch up on and friends to find,' said Marlene grabbing Lily's hand and starting to drag her out of the ice cream shop, 'Later boys!'

James and Sirius waved goodbye as the girls left, before James looked back at Sirius and grinned, 'Lily Evans just asked how my summer was.' Sirius rolled his eyes and dropped his head back onto his chair, 'In your dreams Jamesy, in your dreams.'

* * *

'Who are you and what have you done to Lily Evans?' asked Marlene once the girls were out of earshot of the two boys.

'What do you mean?' replied Lily, staring straight ahead down the street and avoiding eye contact with Marlene.

'If I am not mistaken, you just had a polite conversation with Sirius Black and James Potter and I seem to remember that not even two months ago, you were refusing to speak or even look at either of them.'

'Hmm, what time did Alice say she would meet us at?'

'Don't change the subject,' Marlene grabbed Lily's arm and they stopped in the middle of the street.

Lily looked at Marlene's expectant face, 'What? That was two whole months ago, I've spent a wonderful summer in a beautiful city and I've decided that this year is going to be a fresh start, what's wrong with that?'

'A fresh start?'

'Yes, a fresh start.'

'I give it a week,' said Marlene bursting out laughing. Lily couldn't resist a laugh too as she imagined all the things the boys had done to annoy her in the last five years.

Marlene had known James her entire life, they were cousins after all and they lived right next door. They had grew up together, learnt to ride their brooms together, bought their first wands together, he was like a brother to her and she had always wished that Lily could see what a great guy he was but from day one, when James had 'accidentally' soaked Lily on their journey across the lake, it was clear they were not going to be friends. Marlene knew he could be an idiot sometimes, okay, a lot of the time but once you got to know him he was great. The fact that he had been in love with Lily ever since that first incident in the lake, when instead of retaliating, she simply turned a bright shade of red and cast a semi-successful drying charm on herself, had never really helped their relationship but maybe this was the year, thought Marlene, maybe this year, they could actually stand to be in the same room without trying to kill each other. Yeah right, wishful thinking.

As for Sirius Black, lady charmer, Hogwarts resident heart throb, the one who had broke practically every girl at Hogwarts' heart in one way or another, he always came across cocky, confident, just like James, not a care in the world which of course, wasn't helped by the fact they were two of the smartest students in their year and always came out with top grades despite hardly ever doing any work and spending more time in detention that every other student in the school put together. But Marlene suspected there was a lot more to Sirius than he let everyone else see, she had been at the Potter's house after all, that night just over a month ago when he- well they didn't talk about that night, or think about that night. Marlene put it out of her head, the next time she saw him, he was back to his usual self and they were both more than happy to forget all about it.

Marlene sighed and pulled herself from her thoughts, taking Lily's arm and continuing down the street but before they had got much further, they were met by a pixie-like girl with short dark hair, a huge grin and several bulky bags.

'Alice!'

Alice Prewett launched herself at Marlene and Lily and they spent several minutes hugging and bouncing around in their excitement, 'I can't believe it's been so long!' said Alice between the other two, 'It feels like its been months since I last saw you both!'

'It's barely been six weeks,' said Marlene, rolling her eyes, but she too was glad to see her friends again.

'Six weeks is a long time when you live together every other week of the year,' replied Alice, before turning to Lily, 'And not all of us got to spend it wandering around Paris, eating pastries and kissing boys at the top of the Eiffel Tower.'

'Kissing-?! Eiffel-?! Lily Evans, you seem to have left some important details out of your letters!' stammered Marlene, looking disbelievingly at Lily, who had turned a similar shade of red to her hair.

'It was one boy,' she corrected, glaring at Alice jokingly, 'And it was under the Arc de Triomphe actually!'

'Oh excuse me for confusing the details, the most exciting thing I've done this summer is have lunch with Franks mother,' replied Alice linking her arm through Lily's and dragging her further down the street, 'Come on then, I heard flourish and Blotts have opened a new café in store, we can get our books and then catch up on all the dirty details!'

* * *

'I'm telling you, it could come in handy.'

'Prongs, how would a rubber egg be more useful for pranking than another box of never-ending swampsickles?'

'Hey Moony, catch,' James launched the rubber egg towards his friend who looked up just in time to realise that the small item flying towards him was an egg and promptly dropped the stack of brand new books he had just bought in an attempt to catch it.

'I concur my friend,' nodded Sirius appreciatively taking in the surprise turned panic turned realisation on Remus face.

'I don't know why I even tried,' said Remus shaking his head with a laugh and throwing the egg over to Peter who despite having seen the whole incident also fumbled with the egg in a panic of trying not to let it fall.

'Simplicity may be the way forward Padfoot.' Said James slipping the egg back into his pocket.

'Yeah, I'm still looking forward to accidentally leaving a swamp outside Filch's office this year,' replied Sirius. The four boys were on their way back to the ice cream parlour for another sundae after spending more than an entire summers worth of pocket money in Gambol and Japes and Quality Quidditch Supplies.

'All ready for Friday night then Prongs?' asked Peter once they had all ordered.

'Yep, all sorted, Sirius here just needs to nab us some fire whiskey and we're all ready!'

'What you mean, is that the only thing you intend to do to get ready for this party is have me charm Madam Rosmerta into selling us some firewhiskey?' asked Sirius, eyebrows raised.

'Yep,' nodded James after a moment's thought. 'What else is there? I told everyone on the team to invite whoever they wanted so that should cover pretty much everyone we want there right?' The other boys laughed.

'You know that could mean more than half of Hogwarts landing at your door on Friday night?' aked Remus, always the voice of reason.

'You say that like it's a bad thing Moony!'

'Are the girls all coming?' asked Sirius.

'Well I told Marley so she better bring them.'

'You mean she better bring Evans?'

'She's one of the girls, isn't she?' James grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his hair as his friends laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

'I'm not going Marley, I've been telling you all week and nothings changed.'

'And all week, I have not been taking no for an answer and nothing has changed there either Lily.' The two girls were standing in Lily's bedroom staring each other out, both as stubborn as the other. 'Come on, what happened to this year being a fresh start?'

'A fresh start means I'll be civil when I have to Marley, not that I'm suddenly going to become best friends with Potter, honestly I think spending all summer with those two has made you crazy!'

'You don't have to be best friends,' Marlene rolled her eyes, 'come on, he's my cousin, he's throwing a party, everyone's going to be there, you won't even have to talk to him if you really don't want to.'

Lily sighed, a party in Potter's house. She knew her friends had been to party's there a couple of times in the last few years, but she had always found an excuse not to go. It wasn't that she didn't like a party, of course she did, but she preferred when the parties were at Marlene's or Alice's house, where she knew she could escape to another room if Potter started asking her out in increasingly loud and embarrassing ways, which he usually did. But still, it had been a while since she'd been to a party, it had been a long summer away from her friends… 'If I say yes, do you promise not to abandon me as soon as we get there?'

'Yayyy! I knew you'd cave eventually!' Marlene was almost dancing, 'I mean, yeah course, now come on, everyone's getting ready at my house, grab your stuff and get a move on!'

Lily couldn't help but laugh, it would be good to relax, let loose, last year had ended on a bit of a low for Lily and she felt a pang of sadness as she thought about her ex-best friend who's letters she had been ignoring all summer. It had been good to escape to France for a few weeks, even if her sister had invited her pig of a boyfriend along, but it got lonely after a while and she was glad to see her friends again.

Less than an hour later, Lily found herself in the middle of Marlene's bedroom surrounded by several girls, all in the process of getting ready for the party. The three Gryffindor girls were joined by two Ravenclaw's, Dorcas Meadows and Emmeline Vance, who they had met in a muggle pub in London last Christmas. The girls had spent quite a night drinking and dancing and had remained friends after spending quite a few more nights out exploring muggle London together. Lily looked around the room at the girls, all in various stages of getting ready for the party.

Lounging on Marlene's bed was Alice, the only one who was already dressed, drinking from the neck of a half empty bottle of fire whiskey. Alice was a pretty girl, she didn't wear a lot of makeup, she was just naturally pretty, so she was always the first one ready when they were going out.

'Slow down Alice, you're going to be finished that bottle before any of the rest of us are even ready,' laughed Dorcas, looking up from the mirror.

'I'm just getting a little head start,' replied Alice taking another drink, 'And don't worry, we've got plenty more,' She held up another full bottle, almost spilling the open one in her other hand as she did so, 'Whoops.'

The other girls laughed.

'What is Frank going to say when he meets you later and you can hardly stand up?' asked Lily with a grin, watching her friend try to sit up straight on the bed.

'Oh I told him that it's the end of the summer, a summer which I spent getting to know his wonderful mother,' Alice grimaced slightly and took another drink from the bottle, 'So he knows that I intend to get sloshed tonight!' Frank was Alice's boyfriend, the year above them in Gryffindor. They had been together almost two years, since Alice was only fourth year and they were perfect together. Frank was the caring type, always looking after Alice, especially when she'd drank an entire bottle of fire whiskey by herself.

Fighting over the full-length mirror were Dorcas and Emmeline, Emmeline holding up two very similar and equally revealing dresses, one in red, one in black, trying to decide which one to wear and Dorcas trying to decide which shoes matched her outfit just right. Everyone knew Emmeline had a thing for Sirius no matter how much she denied it and wonderful as she was, it was just like her to pick a dress she knew would catch his attention for all the wrong reasons.

Finally, Marlene was trying to force Lily out of the jeans and shirt she insisted on wearing and into one of the many dresses hanging in Marlene's wardrobe.

'So do you think Sirius will be here tonight?' asked Emmeline casually.

'Course he will Em,' replied Dorcas as the rest of the girls rolled their eyes, 'Him and Potter are practically brothers.'

'You shouldn't go there you know,' said Alice knowingly from the bed, 'he's trouble.'

'I don't plan on going anywhere, I was just asking!' Emmeline shook her head defensively, finally deciding on the red dress.

'Just try it Lily,' argued Marlene, holding out a cute black dress. She herself was still wearing jeans but had a sequin skirt and top ready to change into.

'Alice, give me some of that,' Lily made a grab for the fire whiskey, 'I'm going to need something to get me through tonight.' Marlene and Alice both laughed as Lily took a drink from the bottle and snatched the dress.

* * *

The party was in full swing by the time the five girls were finally ready. Luckily it was only a short walk from Marlene's house to James.

'Marley!' Sirius was the first to spot the girls when they made it through the door and quickly pulled Marlene into a bear hug which she desperately tried to wriggle out off, smoothing down her hair.

'How much have you had Sirius?' She laughed, knowing that he only called her Marley when he wanted something or when he was really drunk.

'Emmm, enough to know that you look hot!' he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She gave him a shove and laughed as he bowed grandly in front of the other girls, 'Lilykins, always a pleasure, no Frank tonight Alice? Does that mean I'm in with a chance?'

'You wish Black, he said he might pop in later for a while.'

'My heart breaks, ahh my favourite Ravenclaws!' Emmeline's face flushed as he took her hand and raised it to his lips before ushering them all further into the party.

'So, where's Potter then? Isn't this meant to be his party?' asked Dorcas, looking through the crowd.

'Err, last time I checked, he was otherwise engaged…if you know what I mean,' Sirius said suggestively. Lily rolled her eyes as the others laughed, how long did she have to stay here again? 'But never mind him,' continued Sirius leading them to the kitchen, 'Who's for a drink?'

* * *

Two hours later Lily flopped down on a sofa next to Dorcas, drink in hand.

'How are you not exhausted, I think I've seen you dancing with every boy in the room?' asked Dorcas.

'I'm pretty sure I've seen you up there dancing a fair few times too!' replied Lily as Dorcas laughed and finished off her drink. They watched as what seemed like half of Hogwarts lounged, drank and danced in James Potter's house which Lily had not failed to notice was more like a mansion than a house.

'I think Remus is going to ask you to dance,' whispered Lily a moment later.

'What? Remus? No way,' Dorcas laughed uneasily but allowed her eyes to look over to where she had spotted Remus sitting not so long ago.

'He's been staring at you for ages, maybe you should ask him!'

'He has not,' Dorcas protested but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, 'And who said I wanted to dance anyway?'

'If you say so,' giggled Lily, pulling Dorcas to her feet and out onto the makeshift dancefloor.

* * *

'SHOTS!' Marlene was still in the kitchen, she'd never actually made it back out into the living room where the music was playing and everyone was dancing. She had lost count of how many drinks she'd had, willingly provided by the circle of Ravenclaw boys around her and the room was starting to spin. She had just slammed her glass back down on the table when she spotted James.

'Jamesy! Come and have a drink with your favourite cousin!' James staggered through the door with a girl Marlene recognised as the Hufflepuff seeker on his arm.

'Marley! What are we drinking?' He made it to Marlene's side before collapsing into a chair and lifting the bottle, drinking straight from the neck.

'Is this the year you finally get over Lily Evans then?' asked Marlene, nodding at the girl beside James whose eyes had quickly closed when she leant her head down on the table.

'Ahh Lily, such a lovely name, the love of my life, centre of my world, where is she?' James looked around the kitchen suddenly, as if expecting her to jump out of a cupboard.

'I'm pretty sure I saw your Lilykins dancing with Fenwick not too long ago Prongs,' Sirius entered the kitchen and slapped James on the back, 'Seemed pretty cosy so they did.'

'Fenwick? What's she see in him? He's an idiot.' James took another drink from the bottle in front of him.

'Yeah, he's cute though.' Said Marlene, taking the bottle off James and having a drink herself.

'Not helping Marley.'

'Hey, where have you been all night Sirius, I've hardly seen you since we arrived?' Marlene's attempt to change the subject roused James interest.

'Yeah Padfoot, where've you been?'

'I've been around,' he replied mysteriously.

James snorted, 'yeah I'm sure you have,' which gained him a whack over the head from Marlene.

'I'm going to find my girls, I need a dance.'

* * *

A/N

I'm not great at writing party scenes sorryyy! But I think the next chapters better...hopefully anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

'Shhhhhhwhysyougottamakesomushnoise.' Marlene pulled her pillow over her head and groaned.

'Could you repeat that please Marley?'

'I hate you Lily-I-don't-get-hangovers-Evans,' mumbled Marlene.

'Mmm I think she just doesn't drink enough,' agreed the muffled voice of Emmeline next to Marlene.

Reluctantly Marlene opened her eyes to find Lily standing next to her with a glass of water which she quickly snatched and took a huge gulp, 'Never mind, I take it all back, you know I love you.' Lily rolled her eyes as Emmeline muttered, 'traitor.'

'I'm never drinking again,' mumbled Dorcas from the mound of blankets at the side of Marlene's bed. Lily pulled one of the blankets away and flopped down beside her.

'What happened everyone last night? I hardly saw any of you for more than five minutes!' Lily looked around the other girls, all in different stages of hungover.

'That's cause you spent half the night dancing with Benji Fenwick.' Came Dorcas's reply making Lily blush and Marlene sit right up laughing at Lily. Benji Fenwick was a Gryffindor boy in the year above them who Lily had been crushing on for a while.

'Ohhhh Lily how did I miss that?'

'We were only dancing,' said Lily with an innocent smile although she too laughed, before changing the subject quickly, 'What about you Marley, who were you with all night?'

'I was putting the fire whiskey in the kitchen to good use with James and Sirius.' The mention of Sirius was met with a loud groan from Emmeline as she pulled the blankets right up over her head.

'You mean that wasn't you I saw with Matty Goldstein outside?' asked Dorcas with a wink.

'Ohhh Marley, do tell!'

'We might have kissed…a couple of times.' Marley laughed as the other girls cheered, Goldstein was also in Gryffindor and the year above them and well known to be one of the hottest boys in school, almost as sought after as the Marauder's themselves, but it was no surprise to find him with Marlene, who was easily one of the most sought after girls in school.

'So much for, 'I'm not going there again, it'll only ruin Quidditch,' laughed Lily giving Marlene a shove as Marlene blushed. She thought back to last year when she and Goldstein had snogged a couple of times, well more than a couple maybe but she had stopped it all when he asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him. No way was she starting a relationship with him, she didn't even like him all that much, yeah he was hot but so not her type, no matter how much her friends tried to persuade her to give him a chance. And Lily was right, he played Keeper for Gryffindor and she played Beater, so it would just cause problems for the whole team when she went and broke his heart.

'It was a kiss, and it was definitely the last this time, no more, I swear! And anyway, I wasn't the only one outside last night, was I Doe?'

Dorcas' eyes twinkled as she laughed a little, 'Remus and I might have gone for a little walk outside, it's not like we could talk inside, that music was so loud!'

There was cheering as Lily leaned over to hug a blushing Dorcas and Marlene squealed, 'Did you kiss him?'

'No, we were just talking, I swear!'

'Alright Em, your turn to spill, what happened you last night?' Marlene tore the blankets away from Emmeline to the sound of a loud groan.

'I don't want to talk about it,' said Emmeline pulling back the blankets.

'Oh come on now you have to tell us!' Dorcas and Lily had moved from the floor to sit up on the bed, intrigued.

'I don't think I saw you at all once we got there, you were with….Oh Em you didn't?' Lily climbed on top of Emmeline and pulled the blankets away again to reveal a guilty looking Emmeline.

'Didn't what? What's going on?' Marlene was looking between Lily and Emmeline with confusion.

'She was with Black! Weren't you?'

'But he was in the kitchen with me and then I saw him kissing that Ravenclaw girl, Natalie something.' There was an even louder groan from Emmeline as she tried to pull the blankets back from Lily's tight grip.

'Marley!' Lily gave her friend I pointed glare.

'Oh.'

'Arrghhh, I don't know why I'm even surprised,' moaned Emmeline finally sitting up. 'One minute we were dancing and talking and then we were outside and he was kissing me and it was great and then he was gone! By the time I went back inside he was dancing with Natalie and he didn't even care that I had seen them!'

'Aw Em, you should have come and told us, we would have beat the crap out of him!' Even Emmeline couldn't help but laugh at the fiery tone in Lily's voice.

Emmeline sighed, 'It's fine, you were dancing with Benji, Doe was with Lupin and Marley was already off her face, I found one of the spare rooms and fell asleep actually. Next thing I knew Alice was waking me up telling me it was time to go.'

'Hey where is Alice?' Dorcas looked around, only now realising they were missing one.

'She left with Frank,' said Emmeline laughing, 'Frank had to practically carry her through the door she was so drunk!'

* * *

'Morning boys.'

James opened his eyes sleepily, taking in the sight before him. He was still on the sofa in the living room. There were feet, belonging to Sirius right in front of his face, he could see a pile of blankets on the floor, vaguely resembling Peter and the sleeping figure on the armchair in the corner was definitely Remus shaped. Sun was shining far too brightly through the window. He blinked, what had woken him up again.

'Morning dear.'

Oh yeah, that. His mother's sweet voice was all too sweet for the state he knew the house must look. He groaned quietly before plastering a huge smile on his face,

'Mum! You're home early!' He tried to get up without waking Sirius, but after a minute or so, he decided to shove him onto the floor. He wasn't going to be the only one facing his mother's wrath for the mess they had made the night before which, the more he looked around, the more he realised was a lot worse than he had first thought. 'Is-is dad here too?' His voice was innocent as he went to hug his mother.

'James Fleamont Potter! You should thank your lucky stars that your father had to stop at the office on the way home!' James cringed at his mother's shrill voice. 'We were gone for two days! Look at this house! What did I say about NO parties?! And Sirius Black, you better pick yourself up off that floor, this goes for you too!' Sirius leapt to his feet in one bounce from the floor where he had still been half asleep muttering something about a banshee.

'It was just a couple of friends mum, honest...' James voice trailed off as his mother carried on.

'You're going to tell me that 'just a couple of friends,' drank all those empty bottles of fire whiskey I saw in the kitchen? Do you think I was born yesterday James Potter? You will both tidy up this house and NO Mimsy will not be helping, I am sending her into town to do some shopping so you two better get to work and if this house isn't spotless by the time your father get's home you better, you'll have him to deal with!'

Both boys nodded sheepishly at Mrs Potter as she left them standing in the living room.

'Mate, I don't think I've ever even heard her shout before,' whispered Sirius as he watched her leave, 'I didn't even know she could.' Mrs Potter was a short woman who spoilt her son rotten but she had a fiery streak and could give a telling off when she really wanted to.

'We should probably get started, this place is a mess' muttered James, even as he flopped back down onto the sofa, looking round at the glasses, bottles and various items scattered all over the room before focussing on the other two boys in the room, 'Hey, you two can stop pretending to still be asleep.'

There was a moment where the other two flickered their eyes open, almost checking that Mrs Potter was definitely gone and they weren't about to be included in the shouting.

'Er, well, I think I'll just be going then James, great party last night but I should really-'

'Not a hope Peter, if we're cleaning this place, so are you two!'

After an hour of tidying up the living room and trying, unsuccessfully to get a nasty stain out of the sofa, the boys looked round.

'Not bad, just the kitchen then?' Sirius grinned.

'I wouldn't look too pleased yet Padfoot,' groaned James from the kitchen doorway. The kitchen was an even worse mess. Where Marlene had been pouring shots half the night, she had got progressively worse at getting the alcohol into the glasses and the walls and benches were all sticky and stunk of alcohol.

'You know, this would take less than five second to clean with magic,' grumbled Sirius.

'Even if you could use magic for it, its not like you would know any cleaning spells,' laughed Remus picking up a cloth and starting to wipe the table.

'Yeah but you do Moony,' Sirius looked hopeful but knew Remus wouldn't dare use magic, they were after all only 16.

* * *

'Surprise!'

'Dad!' The boys had barely finished cleaning and had just flopped down in the living room again when James father came through the door. He wrinkled his nose a little at the smell of cleaning products.

'So how was the party?' He asked excitedly coming in to join the boys on the sofa as they exchanged surprised glances, 'Oh, don't look so surprised, left alone for a few days at the end of summer, who wouldn't throw a party? Why do you think I tried to convince your mother to come into the office this morning when we finished up early? I was trying to buy you some time!'

James stared at his father incredulously. He knew his father was a bit of a jokester, probably where he got it from but he hadn't expected that! His parents were both aurors now and had been away with work for the last few days, they weren't due home till the day after next which James thought left him plenty of time to tidy up after the party. He grinned at his father, about to launch into a report of the party when his mother reappeared.

'Charlus Potter!' Mr Potter had the sense to look guilty as he turned to face his wife who despite the stern tone of voice had a small smile creeping out.

'Yes dear?'

'Oh never mind,' Mrs Potter rolled her eyes and left the boys in the living room with a laugh, she knew by now what her husband and son were like when it came to pranks and parties, there was just no use arguing.

* * *

It was several hours later, after the boys had assured Mr Potter that it was an amazing party and Mrs Potter had relented and brought them all bacon sandwiches that the boys finally had a chance to talk.

'So Moony,'

'Padfoot?'

Sirius was looking at Remus with a mad grin on his face as Remus smiled at him pleasantly.

'You have a good night last night?'

'Yes, it was quite fun actually.' Sirius grin got wider.

'What are you on about Padfoot?' Asked James looking between the two with interest.

'Pretty sure I saw you heading outside at one point' said Sirius, ignoring James.

'Is there a question there?' Remus smiled knowingly.

'Ohhhhh Moony, who were you outside with?' James had finally caught on to what Sirius was hinting at.

'We were outside talking for a while weren't we Remus?' said Peter, causing the three other boys to burst out laughing.

'Oh, so it was two I saw cosied up in the corner then?' howled Sirius as Remus shook his head laughing.

'I don't think he's talking about that time Pete,' spluttered James grinning.

'No, he's probably talking about the time I went outside with Dorcas,' replied Remus with a grin.

'Dorcas?'

'Meadows?'

'Good on you mate! Finally got in there did you?'

Remus blushed furiously, 'We were only talking, it was too loud in here to hear anything so we went outside, that was all!' He shook his head as the other boys continued to laugh. 'What about you then Padfoot, wasn't that Emmeline I saw you outside with, she didn't look to happy when I saw her a bit later on?'

'Ahhh, yeah, that was- she uh, we- Let's just say I don't think she'll be speaking to me on the train next week.' Sirius grinned at the boys, 'Great kisser though.' Remus groaned as James and Peter laughed.

'What about Greengrass? I definitely saw you with her.' James asked a second later.

'Uh yeah, that's probably why Vance won't be talking to me on the train,' Sirius grinned again while James shook his head.

'So I was talking to Ella Jenkins last night, you know the Ravenclaw, she plays Quidditch,' said Peter, once the others had stopped laughing.

'Ohhh she's not bad, didn't see that one coming Wormtail, good on you mate,' said Sirius, waggling his eyebrows.

'No, I was actually going to say, I think she has a thing for you James, kept asking where you were?'

The boys laughed as James shook his head again.

'Aww Jamesy, got another girl on your tail, but still no sign from Evans!' laughed Sirius, reminding James of the sight he had seen when he retuned to the living room the night before, where Lily had been getting rather too close to Benji Fenwick.

'Do me a favour and aim a bludger at Fenwick during our match against Ravenclaw this year Sirius,' said James with a laugh, 'Maybe Evans won't like him as much when he has no teeth!'


	4. Chapter 4

It was a sunny Thursday, just a few days before the Hogwarts Express would take hundreds of young witches and wizards back to school and James Potter and Sirius Black were lounging in James' back garden, although it might better be described as a small quidditch pitch, the boys had, after all been playing quidditch on it for the last several hours.

Mrs Potter watched the boys from the kitchen window while they laughed and joked, oblivious to her watching them as they faced the other way. She smiled a sad smile as she thought about everything they had already gone through and all that the future still held. As an auror for the Ministry of Magic, Mrs Potter had seen all sorts of horrors in her time and she hoped and prayed that those boys would never have to do so, but she knew her hopes were useless. The wizarding world was already at war although few knew the full extent of it and she feared that her son would find out only too soon.

Having watched the boys play endless quidditch and now stretch out in the sun, she decided to bring them some lemonade but as she headed out towards them she notice their happy faces had turned serious. She paused, wondering if she should leave them to it or interrupt and as she thought she heard them speaking in low voices.

'I told you that's what I heard them saying, you know what they're like.' Sirius whispered.

'I know, I know, I mean I've heard mum and dad talking too, it's obviously getting worse but Bellatrix- she only finished Hogwarts a couple of months ago and Regulus- he's only-' James stammered in disbelief at the thoughts going through his head.

'He's barely fifteen James,' said Sirius sadly leaning his head back and closing his eyes, 'He's only fifteen.'

The boys went quiet, both deep in thought as Mrs Potter stood still at the door, she waited a minute before going out, hoping they wouldn't realise she had heard them.

* * *

'JAMES, SIRIUS,'

Just a couple of days after Mrs Potter had overheard the boys in the garden, Charlus Potter called them downstairs from where they had been hiding in James' room all day, planning Merlin only knew what for their upcoming year at Hogwarts.

A minute later, both boys were sat in the living room in front of James' parents who both had serious faces.

'Are we in trouble? Cause I swear we haven't done anything today.' James was looking between his parents, wondering what the cause of their stern faces could be just the day before he returned to Hogwarts.

Charlus chuckled, 'No, no son, we just wanted to have a little chat with you both before you go back to school.'

'Oh.'

'Well, it's clear now that you are both well aware of the dangers facing our world,' Sirius stared at the floor in front of him, avoiding eye contact with the Potters as Mr Potter continued, 'There are things happening out there that are beyond what you might even imagine and while Hogwarts is probably the only safe place in the country, you must promise us that you will stick together there and look after each other, no matter what happens.' James looked at his father, who had never kept him in the dark about what was happening in the world but who had also never had such a conversation with him and nodded, wondering why his parents had felt the need to have this conversation now.

'Both of you come from very well known, very important pure-blood families,' continued Mrs Potter, 'but, as I am sure you both know, that is no longer enough to protect you. It is known that we have long since abandoned the beliefs and traditions of the pure-blood families, that we fight against all that they stand for and therefore James, you must be careful, even at Hogwarts.' She paused for a moment, considering her son, 'Sirius,' Sirius lifted his head for the first time since he had sat down, to meet Mrs Potter's eye, 'Sirius, we can only imagine all that you have seen and heard and gone through in these last few years and we hope that you know that this is your home now. You did a very brave thing this Summer and we are so glad that you knew you could come here, we will do all that we can to protect you, just as we will James, but we cannot protect you at Hogwarts and I fear that you will face retaliation there, which is why we are asking you both to look after each other.' Sirius eyes were shining as he nodded at Mr and Mrs Potter.

'Friendship is important boys,' Mr Potter watched the boys seriously, 'It could save your life in the future and we tell you this to protect you. I hope that you can protect each other and also your friends because you all may well face trouble in Hogwarts in these coming years but remember, you have two years left there, enjoy them, pull all the pranks you want,' Mr Potter shot a glance at his wife who simply smiled gently, 'have fun boys, but remember also to be careful.'

'And try to squeeze some work in there in between all of that,' added Mrs Potter with a smile as she stood up. 'Now I'll have Mimsy do us all up some hot cocoa and then it's off to bed for you two!'

James stood up to hug his mother tightly before she turned to embrace Sirius.

'Thankyou, for everything,' whispered Sirius in her ear. Mrs Potter held on to the hug for a few seconds longer, knowing that only too soon, these two boys would be leaving Hogwarts and entering the world she knew to be only too frightening.

* * *

'What do you think?'

Sirius looked over at James, they were sitting in James' room, finishing off their hot cocoa and thinking about everything the Potter's had said.

'It's mad, isn't it? I guess I never really thought about the war coming into Hogwarts, but it makes sense.' Sirius shook his head, thinking about his brother.

'It must be bad, if mum and dad are warning us, they wouldn't if they didn't feel they had to.'

'It's weird though, think about all the pranks we've pulled on the Slytherins, all the hexes in the corridors, it always just seemed like a bit of fun but in a couple of years, they're going to be out there fighting for Voldemort.'

James nodded, it felt like they were all still kids, too young to be thinking about war and the future, but they were nearly finished Hogwarts now and his parents were right. 'We have to be careful this year.'

'Don't tell me you're retiring from the Marauders.' Said Sirius, feigning shock as he clutched at his chest.

James grinned, 'Marauders for life! No, course I don't mean that, but we still need to be careful, think about what dad said about looking after our friends, we're all blood traitors in their eyes, Lily is muggle-born and Remus- If they ever found out about him,' James shook his head and sighed.

The two boys fell silent for a while, both deep in their own thoughts. James thought about his parents, his friends, Lily, even Marlene, his cousin who he had fought with since they were too young to talk, everyone he cared about seemed to be in danger. Sirius thought about the Potter's, how they had taken him in when he was at his lowest and treated him like their own despite everything and he thought about his own family, the ones who had treated him like dirt, who went against everything he believed in and who wouldn't think twice about attacking, torturing or even killing him and his friends.


	5. Chapter 5

'And then Mutley chased the ugly thing all the way round the park.'

Lily let her head roll back to rest on the back of the sofa as she listened to here sister emit an excruciatingly shrill laugh in response to her boyfriends' stupid story about the stupid dog he used to own. Sounded like a nasty dog, it was always chasing something or attacking someone in all his stories. Lily looked at her sister, holding the pudgy hand of the man sat next to her, Petunia wasn't ugly, she was actually very pretty and Lily couldn't for the life of her work out what she saw in him. Lily's mother was sitting in the other armchair in their cosy living room, laughing along politely, although Lily could see that she was also quite fed up with the dog stories.

'Anyone need anything from the shops?'

Lily bounced to her feet as her father poked his head into the room, 'I'll come with you,' she said, glad for a chance to escape the house for a while. Her father grinned and shot her a wink.

Ten minutes later, Lily found herself, not in the local supermarket but in an ice-cream parlour just down the street from her house.

'So what happened the groceries?' She asked her father who was tucking into a large chocolate sundae.

'We didn't need any,' he said simply with a grin, 'But I could see you slowly losing the will to live back there so I felt the need for drastic action!'

Lily Laughed, shaking her head at her father, with his twinkling eyes and sweet smile, she had always been closer to her father, even before she got her Hogwarts letter and its not that her mother hadn't accepted her as a witch, she just always seemed to take Petunia's side in the inevitable arguments which happened every time Lily was home.

'Well I can't say I'm not glad to get out of the house for a while, I don't know what she see's in him, he's so boring and ugly and rude! Did you hear him talking about Mrs Hawthorn from next door?' Lily's could feel her face turning red as she got angrier at the mere thought of Vernon Dursley.

Mr Evans smiled at his fiery daughter, 'Just be glad you're going back to school tomorrow, you don't have to see him all the time!'

'I miss you when I'm away you know,' Lily said quietly after a moment.

'I miss you too,' her father reached over to take her hand, 'We all do, even Petunia.'

Lily snorted and rolled her eyes, 'Yeah right, she's glad to see the back of me.'

'She misses you more than you know, maybe even more than she herself knows, she just doesn't understand everything you are.'

'That's because she never tried!' Said Lily indignantly before sighing, having had this same conversation with her father a hundred times in the last five years.

'We're so proud of you Lils.' Lily looked up to meet her fathers eye, suddenly fighting the urge to cry as she nodded and they finished off their ice cream in silence.

* * *

'I'm going to kill you Danny!' Marlene slammed the front door behind her as she stormed through the house towards the kitchen where she knew her mother would be preparing dinner.

'Marlene, what's the matter now?' Her mother was small, smaller than Marlene and tired looking, Marlene supposed that came to raising five kids.

'He took my wand again mum, my wand!'

Mrs McKinnon sighed before calling up the stairs where she had heard footsteps thundering just a moment before Marlene slammed the door, 'DANNY!'

A moment later, a boy appeared at the kitchen door, looking sweet and innocent, ducking as Marlene leapt towards him.

'Where is it you little-!'

'Marlene, let him go!' Their mother pulled Marlene off her younger son, 'Danny, give her back her wand for goodness sakes.'

Danny grinned sheepishly as he pulled Marlene's wand out of his pocket and she snatched it off him sticking out her tongue.

'Honestly Marlene, you're almost as bad as Jess,' sighed Mrs McKinnon shaking her head, 'You shouldn't have even had your wand out of the house anyway, not like you can use it!'

'I wasn't using it!' defended Marlene angrily, she was still annoyed at her little brother, 'And why am I getting shouted at, I didn't do anything wrong.'

'I'm not finished with Danny either, get back in here!' Danny froze from where he had been trying to escape unnoticed at the foot of the stairs, 'What were you doing, taking her wand? You should know better than all of this nonsense!'

'She kept saying I was going to be in Slytherin mum!'

Mrs McKinnon sighed, this was the same argument they had been having all summer. 'At this rate, I don't care what house you're in, as long as neither of you kill each other before you even get there! Now go on till I finish this dinner and try not to fight please.'

Her last words were drowned out by the two children thundering back of the stairs, already arguing about something or other.

Marlene barely made it back to her room, still fighting the urge to send a jinx her little brother's direction before she flopped down on her bed. She couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts, two brothers and two sisters made for quite the mad house and the quiet of the Gryffindor common room was all too far away. Of course, it might not be so quiet this year, considering her younger brother and sister, twins Danny and Beth would be starting Hogwarts and despite her teasing, she really hoped they weren't in Slytherin, actually she really hoped they weren't in Gryffindor either, but it would be better than Slytherin at least. Marlene had another younger sister, Jess who was only nine, two years left before she started Hogwarts and an older brother too, Chris who had graduated Hogwarts two year earlier and was entering his final year of auror training.

Marlene closed her eyes as she thought about her siblings, she had just two years left at Hogwarts and then she'd be out there, most likely fighting alongside her brother and her father, who was also an Auror. She let out a deep breath, it's not that she didn't want to fight, she knew there was a war going on and she wanted to do her part but ever since she was a child, she had wanted nothing more than to be a healer.

Lost in thought, she barely heard her door open, and was jolted into the present by the weight of Jess landing on top of her. Oh well she thought, hugging her little sister tight, two years before she had to worry too much about the future.

* * *

Remus Lupin groaned as he twitched his eyes open, thankful that his mother had pulled the curtains as he didn't think he could deal with sunlight just yet. He took a deep breath as he tried to sit up, giving up quickly as he felt pain shoot through every bone in his body. He sighed and closed his eyes again, maybe a little more sleep, but his painful groans must have alerted his mother who appeared at his door with a tray of tea, toast and ahh, he managed half a smile, a large bar of chocolate.

It was selfish, he thought, and stupid to be thankful that last night had been the last full moon before he went back to school. One night a month for the next ten months, he would be endangering the lives of his very best friends, but oh what a difference it made, at school, he never felt pain as he felt now, in their animagus forms, his friends seemed to be able to prevent him from hurting himself as much and he woke up feeling slightly less like death than he did at home.

He smiled and accepted the tray from his mother, finally managing to pull himself into a sitting position as she took a seat at the end of his bed.

'All ready for tomorrow?' She asked him gently.

'Think so, just need to throw a few more books in,' he nodded towards his trunk which was open in the corner, stacked neatly with his robes, some normal clothes, his school books and a plentiful supply of chocolate which never failed to brighten him up.

* * *

 **A/N**

Hope you're enjoying so far, let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

'CANONBALL!'

THUNK

'OW'

'SIRIUS!'

'What the hell?'

'GERROFF'

'You lot are worse than first years, honestly,' Marlene had pulled the door to the last compartment on the train open to find a tangle of limbs on the floor in the midst of several muffled shouts. She rolled her eyes, stepped over them and threw herself down on the bench. 'Don't mind me, I'll just sit here and raid your chocolate stash while you four untangle yourselves.' She reached into the bulging bag in the corner which she could see a box of chocolate frogs poking out of.

'Think you'll find those are mine Marlene,' grinned Remus Lupin appearing in front of her, seemingly having disentangled himself rather quickly as his chocolate was threatened.

'Think _you'll_ find Lily's looking for you, Prefect's meeting started about 5 minutes ago didn't it?' Marlene eyed the bag cheekily.

'Crap.'

'Hey at least leave the chocolate!'

'OW!'

After a quick glance at his watch which confirmed he was indeed late for the prefects meeting, Remus had gone to jump over his friends who were still on the floor but had managed to step on Peters hand in his hurry.

'Sorry Pete,' He threw Peter a chocolate frog from the bag and was about to disappear out the door when Sirius sprang up from the floor and snatched the bag from his hands. 'Sirius!'

'Thanking you!'

Remus paused for a moment at the door, torn between being even more late for the meeting than he already was and losing his entire stash of chocolate to Sirius bottomless stomach.

'Damnit, you owe me Padfoot!'

As the door slid shut behind him, Sirius flopped down next to Marlene, draping his legs across her knee, 'So McKinnon, what brings you here this fine day, where's all your mates?'

'Lily's off being a prefect and Alice is off making out with her perfect boyfriend,' Marlene shoved Sirius feet off her knee and reached for the bag in Sirius hands. 'Oh and I know you lot always have unlimited food so win win for me!'

Sirius pulled the bag out of her reach but threw her a chocolate frog, swivelling round so that he could place his head on her lap where his feet had been and giving her a cheeky grin, 'And there was me thinking you came down here for my charm and good looks.'

'Yeah you wish Black,' She shoved him again but allowed him to stay where he was, more preoccupied with the now very accessible bag of chocolate next to her.

* * *

Several hours and games of exploding snap later, Remus and Lily had long since returned to the compartment, the latter forcing Marlene to abandon her winning streak to go and find Alice.

'But Lily,' Marlene had whined, 'There's chocolate and explosions in there!'

'You could have saved me some chocolate you know,' groaned Remus as the girls shut the door behind them and he looked around the chocolate wrappers strewn across the compartment.

'Blame Marlene,' said Sirius, 'She did it.'

'Yeah, did she leave the chocolate on your chin too Padfoot?'

James and Peter laughed as Sirius stuck his tongue out to try and lick the chocolate off unashamedly.

'Probably should have took the bag away at some point,' said James thoughtfully, after watching Sirius slobber over his chin for a minute, 'He'll be up half the night, the amount of those things he ate.'

Remus simply rolled his eyes and reached into his trunk to pull out another box of chocolate frogs.

Sirius eyes lit up hopefully.

'Not a hope mate!'

'There was another whole box?'

'Not like you needed it! But I've spent enough time round you to know I should always bring spare.'

'Anything interesting at your meeting?' Peter addressed Remus in an attempt to change the subject.

'Nah, just the usual, Gryffindor passwords flobberworm, that's about it. Sirius NO!' Sirius withdrew his hand quickly as Remus swiped at his hand and flopped back into his seat with a huff.

'It's just chocolate Moony, no need to be so stingy.' Remus opened his mouth to retort, honestly Sirius was like a child when it came to chocolate, but before he could say anything, the compartment door slid open again and the chocolate debate was forgotten.

'Ahh look who it is, blood traitors galore.'

The snide voice came from Michael Avery, 6th year Slytherin who was flanked by Severus Snape and David Mulciber. The four boys all reached for their wands at the same time.

'No need for that, we're all friends here,' Avery smirked at Sirius who still had chocolate on his chin, 'Just thought we'd come let you know that we'll take good care of your brother now you've made your opinions clear.'

Sirius was on his feet and nose to nose with Avery before he was even finished speaking, James right by his side, Remus and Peter close behind.

'Don't you _ever_ speak to me or my brother, I swear, if you go near him!' Sirius' voice was dangerously low, and his wand was clenched tight in his fist.

'Calm down Black, we don't want any trouble, not yet anyway, just wanted to keep you updated, I'm sure we'll chat again soon.'

There was an uneasy silence in the compartment once the door had slid shut.

'Sirius, you shouldn't listen to-'

'I'll kill them, I'll kill them if they go near Reg, he's just a kid.'

James knew better than anyone, the guilt Sirius felt at leaving his younger brother behind when he had left home just a few weeks earlier and he also knew that at times like this there was nothing he could do to make Sirius feel better, so he shook his head slightly at the other two, indicating they shouldn't push him.

'We should be getting changed soon,' said Remus quietly after a moment of watching Sirius stew, 'Shouldn't be long till we arrive now.'


End file.
